Apparatus for gripping and delivering mail-bags.



5u vente@ @m Patented het. 2, |900.

5 Sheets-Sheet I.

S. R. PATTEN.

APPARATUS FOR GRIPPING AND DELIVERING MAIL BAGS.

(Application filed May 8, 190D.)

NN 1 d. 91

(No Model.)

Nwww No. 659,098. Patented Oct. 2, |900'.- S. R. PATTEN. APPARATUS FUR SHIPPING AND DELIVEBING MAIL BAGS.

(Application filed Hay 8, 1900.)

5 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

511 vanto-L @Winans m: cams Pneus co. nom-uma. wAsmNsTcn, D cv No. 659,098. Patented 0st. 2, |900. S. R. PATTEN.

APPARATUS FDR GBIPPLNG'AND DELIVERING MAIL BAGS.

(Application led Mayu-8, 1900.) (nu Model.) 5 sheets-sheet '3.

No. 659,098. Patented 0st. 2. |900. S. R. PATTEN. APPARATUS FOR GBIPPING AND DELIVERING MAIL BAGS.

(Appncacion medmay e, 1900.)

(No Model.)

wuentoz @Houma/o mi: Hemus PETERS co. moro-umn.. WASHINGTON. n. c.

No. 659,098. Patented oct. 2, |900.

s. n. PATTEN.

APPARATUS FOR GRIPPING ANU DELIVERING MAIL BAGS.

(Agplieamn med my s, moo.)

(No Model.)

5 Sheets-Sheet 5.

NiT-ED STATES PATENT Frici.

SIMON RICE PATTEN, OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ALFRED MILLARD, OF SAME PLACE.

APPARATUS FOR GRIPPING AND DELIVERING MAIL-BAGS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 659,098. dated October 2, 1900.

Application filed May 8, 1900 Serial No. 15,924. (No model..`

To otZZ whom t may con/cern:

Be it known that I, SIMON RICE PATTEN, a citizen of the UniredStates,residingatOmaha, Douglas county, State of Nebraska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Gripping and Delivering Mail-Bags, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of dero vices for gripping and delivering mail bags or pouches fully set forth in my Letters Patent No. 643,529; and my invention consists in certain improvements and details of con.- struction fully set forth hereinafter and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in

which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional plan of parts of a mail-car through the gripping devices thereof. Fig. 2 is a partsectional plan zo showing the same device in another position. Fig. 3 i-s a side elevation of the same parts; Fig. 4 is an elevation transverse to the track in part section, showing` part of the car and the crane and adjuncts. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the detachable portions of the gripper-frame. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of part 'ot' the car and the gripper device arranged at the station. Fig. 7 is a sectional plan of the parts shown in Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is o an enlarged view of one of the holders upon the crane. Fig. 9 is an end View of Fig. 8.

The mail-car A is provided with the side opening X, opposite which is the car-gripper, which is shown as a hinged frame O outside ot' the opening and supported in operation at an angle to the side of the car by a suitable detent C,lhe hinges of the gripper-frame be ing out of line, the lower hinge being farther from the face of the car than the upper one, 4o so that the gripper-frame tends to close against the car by gravity. Asshown, the frame has projecting arms 8 8, which serve to engage and deflect the pouch toward the detent C'. There is a spring suitably arranged to throw the frame inward when the detent is displaced by contact with the bag. As shown, the said spring 14 is arranged within a hollow or tubular bar D, pivoted at one end to a bracket 9 at the inside of the gripper-frame. The outer 5o end of the spring 14 bears against a sliding portion 16 of the bar, which portion extends partly into the hollow bar D and has at the outer end a spherical head 12, adapted detachably to a socket in a stud 13 at the edge of the opening X. The bar D, arranged as described, extends across the opening, and when the gripper is swung outward the spring 14 is compressed within the bar and exerts a power tending to close the gripperframe against the side of the car. To permit the 6o bar D to be swung out of the way, the sliding portion 16 is provided with a handle or crosspin 1S, which may be gripped by the hand to lift the end 12 from its socket, and when the bar is to be replaced in position the handle '18'permits a grip upon the sliding portion 16, that enables the operator to force this portion inward against the spring until the end `12 is replaced in its socket.

The detent C maybe of anysuitable shape 7o and arrangement, but as shown is in the form of a yoke pivoted at its outer ends to a vertical bar 25, and the inner end must be provided with a suitable bearing in order that the detent may hold the gripper-frame open. This bearing may be arranged in any suitable. position, but is preferably upon the bar D. While the end of the detent C' may make contact directly with said bearing, l prefer that there shall be at some point an interme- 8o diate yielding portion, so that when the frame is vibrated by the motion of the car the contact between the parts is preserved, thereby preventing the detent from slipping out of place. This yielding portion maybe either in the bearing or in the detent. As shown, the detent has a socket receiving a spring 15, against which bears a pin 17, havinga limited sliding movement, and the end ofthe said pin may engage a collar 24, secured adj ustably 9o to the bar D. The pin bearing upon the spring will move in and out of the socket closing, I combine therewith a suitable automatic locking device which will lock the frame in its inward position, and I make use of means for shifting the said device from the interior of the car to release the frame. This locking device may be of any suitable character, but. as shown consists of wedgeshaped blocks 5() 50, carried bya sliding bar 51 and each adapted to fit between a liange 7 near the hinge of the gripper-frame and a cheek-piece I, connected with that part of the hinge fastened to the side of the opening. Vhen the bar 5l is lowered, the blocks 50 are brought between the flanges 7and the cheekpiece, as shown in Fig. l, this resulting when the gripper-frame is closed, so as to carry the anges from below the blocks, when the latter will descend by gravity into locking position. The blocks are raised by means of any suitable lifting device-as, for instance,- by a lever 56, extendiuginto the car and extending at the outer end below the end of or connected with the lower end of the bar 51, which may thus be lifted by bearing upon the inner end of the lever 5G. Preferably the bar 51 is angular and slides vertically in angularopenings in ears 52 on the outside of the car.

To insure the deflection of the bag into the .opening X even if the bag for any reason should fail to be gripped between the gripper-frame and the bar D, I provide a deflector-plate M, which may be secured in the position shown in full lines, Fig. 4. As it is not desirable that this plate should be permanently in place, I secure it movablyin position either to be wholly removed or, as shown, swung inward, in which case it lies upon the top of the sill 10.

It is desirable to employ a gripper-frame of such width that it obstructs to a great extent the opening X, so as to interfere with the receipt and discharge of bags that sometimes must be placed in or removed from the car by hand. In order to secure better access to the car in such cases, I make the lower portion of the gripper-frame movable or removable, so that it can he carried out of position when desired, affording a larger space between the gripper-frame and the sill. Thus the lower portion C2of the gripper-frame is so connected with the other portion that it can be moved out of place or removed. As shown, it is detachable from the other portion, the latter having a pin 70, extending into a socket in a stra-p 71, fastened to the part C2 near the rear end, and near the forward end there is a fork 72, receiving the lower bar of the frame C, and through the latter and through the fork extends a bolt 75, having the inner end pivoted to the stem, so as to gravitate into locking position, as shown in Fig. 5. By withdrawing the bolt the section C2 may be readily detached from the remaining portion of the gripper-frame. It will be obvious that any other means for securing this section detachably may be employed.

The gripper-fra meis provided with a holder K for engaging the ring 22 of the chain 32, supporting the bag Y, which is to be delivered to the station, and this holder is combined with means whereby it may be operated to release the bag by the action of the detent C when it swingsinward. As shown, the holder consists of a bolt 21, extending into openings in two parallel ears 2O 20, 'pendent from the gripper-frame C and connected with a lever 23, pivoted to the gripper-frame, with its upper end arranged in position to be struck by the detent. C' when the latter is displaced by contact with a bag, so that as the bag at the station is gripped by the gripper on the ear the bag carried by the latter, which hangs to the bolt 21, Will be released. It is desirable also to release the bag Y even if no bag is engaged by the gripper upon the car, and this is eected by so constructing the holder K that any unusual drag upon the bag Y will cause its release. Thus the bolt 21 is provided at its inner end with an eye through which the lower end of the lever 23 extends, with collars above and below the eye, so that the bolt may swing horizontally upon the lever, and the ears 20, through which the bolt extends, are provided with inclined notches (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3) for receiving the outer end of the bolt. The said notches open toward the rear. The inclination of the notches prevents the bolt from swinging too freely; but when the bag Y engages with any object the strain upon the chain 32 will draw the bolt outward through the notches or to such an extent that the ring can slip therefrom.

The crane B, of any suitable construction, is arranged adjacent to the track and is provided with holders L L, having pins 30 for receiving the rings upon the ends of the bag which is to be delivered to the car.

To insure a free delivery when the bag makes contact with the gripper-frame of the car, the pins 30 are pivoted by vertical bolts 41 to the arms B of the crane, so that the said pins 30 will swing freely laterally. It is extremely desirable, however, to prevent the bag from delivering too readily upon the pins in order that it may not be blown off or otherwise improperly removed, and I therefore combine with each pin a yielding finger 31, shown in the form of a rod provided with a spring-coil and diverging from the pin 30, so that the linger can be carried down parallel to the pin and the ring on the end of the bag can only be applied to the pin after the springfinger has been pressed toward the pin and the ring can only be removed by a force sufcient to press the finger toward the pin as the ring slides oif. The spring-finger may be vertically in line with the pin, but is preferably at one side of a vertical plane passing through the pin, so as not to bear upon and Wear away the strap which connects the ring to the bag.

While any suitable receptacle may be pro- YOO vided upon the track at the station for the bags Y, delivered from the car, I prefer to arrange at each receiving-station, adjacent to the crane, a gripper device which will receive and preferably automatically gri p the bag between the gripper-frame and a bar in substantially the manner in which the bag is gripped by the gripper upon the car. I have shown a station-gripper H, substantially similar to' the gripper C upon the car, but arranged in a reverse direction and supported by a frame in such a position near the ground that the bags Y, suspended from the car, will find a ready entrance into the gripper H and will operate upon the detent thereof so as to release the gripper-frame and cause the bag to be gripped between the gripper-frame H and a cross-bar D', similar to the spring-actuated cross-bar D. The grippe r-frame H, however, is provided at the bottom with an inwardlyprojecting tiange c, upon which the bag may fallin case it fails to be gripped, so as to keep it from the ground. The gripper-frame H may be supported in any suitable manner, but is preferably connected with a frame N, having an opening X', across which the bar D' extends, and the said frame is pivoted or hinged to a stationary frame N at a point nearer the frame B than the point where the gripper-frame H is pivoted, so that when a bag is received by the frame H the blow will be at an acute angle to the plane extending through the hinges of the frame N and of the gripper-frame H instead of at right angles thereto, so as to reduce the force tending to swing the frame N. It will be seen that if the hinges of the frame H were in a plane at right angles to the track extending through the hinges of the frame N the full force of the blow on receiving the bag would tend to impart a violent swinging motion tothe frame N, while by arranging these hinges on a plane at an acute angle to the track the swinging effect of the blow is greatly reduced. The hinges of the frame N are not arranged in line, but the lower hinge h is nearer the track than the upper hinge h', whereby the frame N tends normally to swing away from the track and toward the stop-post 75, whichv is provided with a suitable buffer 76. v The forward motion of the frame N is limited by a stop-plate 77, secured to the frame N'.

Theframe N is provided with a catch for holding it normally in receiving position. (Shownin Fig. 8.) This catch P may be of any suitable character, but preferably is a pawl 79, having a doublebeveled end fitting a double-beveled recess in the frame N and pivoted at the other end to the frame N', as shown. This insures the retention of the frame N in its forward position; but owing lo the beveled engaging faces any blow upon the gripper-frame H, which might injure the latter if the parts were immovable, would simply result in exerting suicient pressure to lift the catch and allow the frame to swing inward to a position which it tends to retain l per-frame in its closed position, and means in consequence of the arrangement of the hinges h h'. To prevent the frame from being swung outward by rebound or by the wind, a catch 80 is also pivoted to the frame N', so as to engage a part of the frame N after the latter has swung to its inward position.

It is of course desirable to release the catch 79 when a bag isgripped by the gripper-fra me H, so that the frame N may then swing inward, and this may be effected by providing the detent C3 with an arm c', extending to the rear to make contact with the lower end of a lever c2, pivoted to the frame, and having an arm c3 extending below the catch 79, Fig. 8. As a result of this construction the contact of the bag with-the detents C3 will swing in the lower end of the lever c2, lift the end c3, and cause the catch 79 to be lifted.

While I have shown and described the station-gripper H as being pivoted to its frame, it will be understood that it may be secured rigidly to the frame N, so as to receive without grasping the bag, the frame N then swinging back out of position, and thus taking up the impact of the blow.

There are of course stations upon lines where it is Ilot always desirable to provide either cranes or receiving devices, and in such case it has been common to throw the bags from the cars, and in some instances the operators fail to properly discharge them and they fall upon the track and are mangled. To prevent this, I provide the car beneath the opening X with a detlector in the forln of a plate Q, which may be arranged in any suitable manner so as ,to be thrown out to the position shown in Fig. et before the bag is discharged through the opening X. While the detlector-plate Q may be carried into position in any suitable manner, I have shown it as 4provided with edge racks 90, engaging pinions 91 on a shaft 92, turning below the frame of the car and provided with a sprocket 8l, from which a chain passes to a sprocket 82 in the car and which may be turned to rotate the shaft and carry the plate in and out. The rear part of the plate is bent at au angle, so that when the plate is pushed fully out it will take the inclined position shown. When adel-lector is projected outward to an inclined position, as shown in Fig. 4, it i11- sures the discharge of the bags at such a distance from the car that they cannot possibly fall upon the track.

Without limiting myself to the precise construction and arrangement of parts sho-wn and described or to the combination of all the parts in any one apparatus, I claim as my inventionl. The combination witha mail-car having a side opening X, of a gripper-frame opposite said opening with hinges arranged out of line, substantiallyas and for the purpose set forth.

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2. The combination with a car, its opening X and hinged gripper-frame, of locking devices arranged to engage and hold the gripextending into the car for shifting said locking devices to release the frame, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of the gripper-frame, spring for throwing it inward and locking devices for retaining it in its inner position, substantially as set forth.

y-L The combination of a car having a side opening X and cheek-pieces I, the gripperframe hinged thereto and provided with anges 7, blocks supported to be carried between the cheek-pieces and ilanges,and means for removing the blocks out of position from within the car, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination of a car having a side opening and cheek pieces, gripperframe hinged thereto and provided with flanges 7, a vertical sliding rod carrying blocks 50, and means for shifting said rod, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination with a car having a side opening, of ahinged gripper-frame, cross-bar provided with a bearing, detent carried by the gripper-frame, and a yielding contactpiece between the bearing and the detent, substantially as set forth.

7. The combination with the hinged gripper-frame and cross-bar having a bearing, of a detent provided with a pin for engaging said bearing and a spring for throwing the said pin outward, substantially as set forth.

S. The combination with the pivoted gripper-frame, of a cross-bar in two sections with a spring between the sections, a socket for receiving the end of one of the sections and a handle upon the latter section, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

9. The combination of the hinged gripperframe, detent connected therewith, cross-bar D and adjustable collar upon the bar constituting a bearing for the detent, substantiallyv as set forth.

10. The combination with a car having a side opening, and with a gripper-frame, of a holder K provided with a bolt for engaging a ring connected with a pouch to be delivered from the car,a lever connected with said bolt, and a detent for holding open the gripperframe arranged to make Contact with and operate the said lever, substantially as set forth.

11. The combination with the gripperframe connected with the car, of a bolt supporting the bag to be delivered from the car, a detent for holding the gripper-frame in its open position, and means whereby the said bolt is retracted by the movement of said detent, substantially as set forth.

12. rPhe combination of the gripper-frame, a holder for supporting the bag to be delivered from the car provided with a bolt arranged to swing to the rear by draft from the pouch substantially as set forth.

13. The combination with the gripperframe, of alever carrying a bolt pivoted to the said lever to swing to the rear, substantially as set forth.

14E. The combination with the gripperframe, of downwardly-projecting ears having slots, a bolt extending into said slots and supported to swing to the rear, a detent, and means whereby the bolt is withdrawn by the action of the said detent, substantially as set forth.

15. The combination with the gripperframe, of down wardly-projecting ears having inclined slots, a bolt extendinginto said slots and supported to swing to the rear, a detent, and means whereby the bolt is withdrawn by the action of the said detent, substantially as set forth.

16. The combination with a car having a side opening, of a gripper-frame hinged at one side of said opening by hinges arranged out of line to cause the frame to swing inward, a spring arranged and connected to cause the frame to swing inward, and a movable detent for holding the frame in its outward position, substantially as set forth.

17. The combination of a car having aside opening, and a gripper-frame, the lower portion of which is movably connected to the upper portion, substantially as set forth.

1S. The combination of a car having aside opening and agripper-frame in two sections, and means for connecting said sections to permit the ready removal of the lower section, substantially as set forth.

19. The combination of a car havingaside opening, a gripper-frame, and an inclined plate extending outside of the said opening above the floor of the car, substantially as set forth.

20. The combination of acar having a side opening, a gripper-frame, and plate M pivoted above the sill of said opening to swing outward to an inclined position and also inward upon the said sill, substantially as set forth.

21. The combination with a car having a side opening and gripper-frame, of a movable deecting-plate Q, and means whereby said plate may be temporarily supported in a position projecting beyond the side of the car, substantially as set forth.

22. The combination with a car and movable deflecting-plate Q, of means extending into the car for shifting the said plate and for holding it in its outer position, substantially as set forth.

23. The combination with the pivoted pins 30, of yielding diverging fingers arranged at one side of the vertical plane of the said pins, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

24. The combination with the car and pouch-supporting means, of a swinging frame arranged adjacent to the track and supporting a pouch-receiving frame H, provided with a flange c, substantially as set forth.

25. The combination with the track, of a frame N hinged to a supporting-frame by hinges arranged out of line and a pouch-receiving frame H carried by the frame N, substantially as set forth.

ICO

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26. The combination of the pivoted frame N, pouch-receiving frame H and catches arranged to engage the frame N in its diierent positions, substantially as set forth.

27. The combination of the swinging frame N, of the pouch-receiving frame H secured to the frame N at a point upon a plane extending through the hinges of the frame N and having an acute angle with the track, substantially as set forth.

28. The combination with the hinged frame N and pouch-receiving frame H and with the frame N supporting the frame N, of a detent or catch -having a beveled edge coinciding with a beveled engaging face upon the frame N, substantially as set forth. I

29. The combination with the frame N' and frame N hinged thereto, of a pouch-receiving frame H pivoted to the frame N, a detent for .name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

SIMON RICE PAT'FEN.

Witnesses:

H. W. GILLMAN, Jr., W. CLARENCE DUvALL. 

